Carlos Checa on pole position at Phillip Island WSBK

Spain’s Carlos Checa has produced a masterful double at Phillip Island this afternoon by claiming pole position for tomorrow’s two 22-lap World Superbike races, as well as reclaiming bragging rights with the best ever lap around the 4.445km circuit.

Checa, a four-time WSBK ace winner at Phillip Island, wound up his factory Ducati to set a sensational 1m30.234s time in his last flying lap in the three-stage Superpole session, and he will be joined on the front row of the grid tomorrow by Aprilia pair Eugene Laverty (1:30.429) and Michel Fabrizio (1:30.581). It was Checa’s 10th pole position in WSBK racing.

Earlier, Fabrizio had lowered Checa’s best lap around Phillip Island to 1:30.387 in final qualifying, but the 40-year-old’s counter claim was flawless as he looks to give the all-new Panigale 1199RS off to a wining start in the 2013 season.

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes and BMW’s Marco Melandri set the same Superpole time of 1:30.615 and will sit on row two alongside Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli (1:30.683), and row three will be an all-British affair: Leon Camier (Suzuki, 1:30.991) and Honda team-mates Leon Haslam (1:30.998) and Jonathan Rea (1:31.742).

The nine riders battled it out in the final Superpole session, while among those to be shed in the first two sessions were Australia’s Jamie Stauffer (Honda), who crashed, and Italian Davide Giugliano (Aprilia).

Australia’s second rider, Glenn Allerton (BMW), didn’t compete in Superpole as it was only restricted to the top 15 riders in regulation qualifying. Allerton qualified in 16th position.

SUPERPOLE TIMES

Position

Rider

Team

Bike

Time

1

Carlos Checa

Team Ducati Alstare

Ducati Panigale 1199

1:30.429

2

Eugene Laverty

Aprilia Racing Team

Aprilia RSV4 Factory

1:30.581

3

Michel Fabrizio

Red Devils Roma) Aprilia

Aprilia RSV4 Factory

1:30.615

4

Tom Sykes

Kawasaki Racing Team

Kawasaki ZX-10R

1:30.615

5

Marco Melandri

BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK

BMW S1000 RR

1:31.539

6

Sylvain Guintoli

Aprilia Racing Team

Aprilia RSV4 Factory

1:30.683

7

Leon Camier

Fixi Crescent Suzuki

Suzuki GSX-R1000

1:30.991

8

Leon Haslam

Pata Honda World Superbike

Honda CBR BR1000RR

1:30.998

9

Jonathan Rea

Pata Honda World Superbike

Honda CBR1000RR

1:31.742

Superpole 2

10

Davide Giugliano

Althea Racing

Aprilia RSV4 Factory

1:31.283

11

Loris Baz

Kawasaki Racing Team

Kawasaki ZX-10R

1:31.283

12

Chaz Davies

BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK

BMW S1000 RR

1:31.870

Superpole 1

13

Max Neukirchner

MR-Racing

Ducati Panigale1199

1:32.010

14

Jamie Stauffer

Team Honda Racing

Honda CBR1000RR

1:32.353

15

Ivan Clementi

HTM Racing

BMW S1000 RR

1:32.773

Others on the Grid

16

Glen Allerton

Next Gen Motorsports

BMW S1000 RR

1:32.352

17

Jules Cluzel

Fixi Crescent Suzuki

Suzuki GSX-R1000

1:32.402

18

Alexander Lundh

Team Pedercini

Kawasaki ZX-10R

1:32.487

19

Ayrton Badovini

Team Ducati Alstare)

Ducati Panigale 1199

1:32.540

19

Federico Sandi

Team Pedercini

Kawasaki ZX-10R

1:32.898

20

Vittorio Iannuzzo

Grillini Dentalmatic SBK

BMW S1000 RR

1:33.082

Get your daily racing fix delivered to your inbox!

Try our daily email, The best way to get your news first, fast and free!

Email:By submitting above you agree to the Speedcafe.com Privacy Policy